The Ivy League and the Evolving Sport of American Football

By Moshe Jaman

Welcome to "The Ivy League and the Evolving Sport of American Football". A three part podcast on the different stages of college football and how the Ivy League influenced the sport. Episode one delves into how the Ivy League saw success as the pioneers and early titans of the sport of football. From how the Ivy schools shaped and dominated the game to how the sport as a whole evolved with their influence. Episode 2 discusses how the game evolved past what the Ivy League expected and how they were forced to quietly take a step back from the increasingly commercialized sport in order to preserve their academic integrity. And episode 3 discussed what the future may hold for the small group of schools' football conference and some closing thoughts. Get ready to dive in and find out just what it takes to be a winner in "The Ivy League and the Evolving sport of College Football".

Episode 1: Days of Dominance

Episode 2: Staying True to The Ivy Way

Episode 3: What's To Come and Closing Thoughts

Sources

1. Goldberg, David L. “What Price Victory? What Price Honor? Pennsylvania and the Formation of the Ivy League, 1950-1952.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 112, no. 2 (1988): 227–48. 

2. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20092202.

3. Smith, Ronald A. “Harvard and Columbia and a Reconsideration of the 1905-06 Football Crisis.” Journal of Sport History 8, no. 3 (1981): 5–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43609068.

4. John M. Murrin. “Rites of Domination: Princeton, the Big Three, and the Rise of Intercollegiate Athletics.” The Princeton University Library Chronicle 62, no. 2 (2001): 161–206. https://doi.org/10.25290/prinunivlibrchro.62.2.0161.

5. Mark F. Birnstein. “Football, The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession”. 

6. Sack, Allen L. 1973. “Yale 29—Harvard 4: The Professionalization of College Football.” Quest 19 (1): 24–34. doi:10.1080/00336297.1973.10519746.

7. Bell, Andrew McIlwaine. The origins of Southern college football: how an Ivy League game became a Dixie tradition. LSU Press, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OePcDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=college+football+dynasties&ots=kHY4QR7BGK&sig=SmYZdCueBlUGsE8jWrnbssCJcXM#v=onepage&q=college%20football%20dynasties&f=false

8. Doeden, Matt. The College Football Championship: The Fight for the Top Spot. Millbrook Press (Tm), 2015.

9. Kian, Edward M., Jason W. Lee, Elizabeth Gregg, and Jennifer J. Kane. "IMMORAL MISMATCH OR JUST ANOTHER GAME? RIVALS. COM FRAMING OF FBS-FCS FOOTBALL GAMES." Journal of Contemporary Athletics 8, no. 2 (2014): 75.

10. Marazzi, Rich. Yale Football Through the Years. McFarland, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fF_sDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=rise+and+fall+of+Yale+Football&ots=Fkt4suwBhB&sig=nk4SbVfaImdn9w4Y2XvSx-lPzzY#v=onepage&q=rise%20and%20fall%20of%20Yale%20Football&f=false

11. Tamte, Roger R. Walter Camp and the creation of American football. University of Illinois Press, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1yZnDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=creation+of+american+football&ots=V5IF_0c5PV&sig=YtteVaAdD-Au_qQyUroFcineW68#v=onepage&q=creation%20of%20american%20football&f=false

12. Corbett, Bernard M. Harvard Football. Arcadia Publishing, 2002. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UlLvwa0dVXgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA11&dq=harvard+football&ots=t9oTDA2dfc&sig=bvTVr_BcMV7AoEDCOyD6UoPMYio

13. Sack, Allen L. "Yale 29—Harvard 4: The professionalization of college football." Quest 19.1 (1973): 24-34. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00336297.1973.10519746

14. Pichini, Luke. “The Evolution of Ivy League Football.” The Cornell Daily Sun, October 7, 2020. https://cornellsun.com/2020/10/07/the-evolution-of-ivy-league-football/

15. https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/yale/1888-schedule.html

16. Powel, Harford. Walter Camp, the Father of American Football: An Authorized Biography. Little, Brown, 1926. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QgOCAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=walter+camp+biography&ots=FPBUxv8CZG&sig=SH1nliOi2MHcvRW27mF2H5uLtdM#v=onepage&q=walter%20camp%20biography&f=false

17. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/traditions-history#:~:text=1843,%2Dman%20teams%20(1897). 

18.  Pro Football Hall of Fame, Presidents Who Played Football, https://www.profootballhof.com/news/2020/02/presidents-who-played-football/ 

19. College Football Hall of Fame, Inductee: Tom Shevlin, https://www.cfbhall.com/inductees/tom-shevlin-1954/

20. Chronology of Football, Pro Football Hall of Fame, https://www.profootballhof.com/football-history/football-history/1869-1939/1876/

https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/hoos/athletics/archer-christian 

Primary sources

1. The Evening statesman. [volume], November 29, 1909, Page Three, Image 3,

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085421/1909-11-29/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1756&index=5&rows=20&words=Football+football+injuries&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=football+injuries&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

2. The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.), 29 Dec. 1915. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1915-12-29/ed-1/seq-27/>

3. UConn Football, October 16 2021, (Third worst FBS team defeats middle of the pack Ivy league teams showing how bad the Ivy league football teams are) https://uconnhuskies.com/sports/football/stats/2021/yale/boxscore/21092 

4. Jo B. Lemann and Tyler J.H.,Ivy League to Consider Allowing Football Teams to Play in Postseason, The Crimson, November 1st 2024, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/11/1/ivy-league-considers-football-postseason/

League, Ivy. This is the Ivy League. Repertoire Records, 1965.https://infogalactic.com/info/Ivy_League